FTC gives groups time on Do Not Track

The Federal Trade Commission supports attempts by Web browsing companies, advertisers and privacy groups to develop industry standards on Do Not Track technology and wants to see ongoing talks play out before backing a legislative solution, top officials have told POLITICO.

At the same time, the commission isn’t taking a position on a fight between stakeholders about whether to make DNT a default setting in Web browsers, even as Microsoft butted heads with Yahoo last month over its announcement that it would turn on those signals by default in the next version of Internet Explorer.

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The officials said during a meeting Friday that they’re trying to support consumer privacy by stepping in when they think companies have gone over the line and promoting values like transparency and choice across the online ecosystem. That includes the agency’s work with Internet stakeholders to design a system whereby consumers have a choice about where their data goes, although that has been a “two steps forward, one step back” process, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said.

Discussions among World Wide Web Consortium members about Do Not Track standards seem to be moving forward, the officials said, and the FTC wants to nurture that process. “We support a self-regulatory approach. The W3C is part of that,” Leibowitz said.

There is plenty of room for positive development among W3C members, Leibowitz said, even though discussions are not immune to hiccups or sometimes heated rhetoric. Talks on the issue have been in the works for more than a year, and could determine the extent to which users can tell websites not to serve them targeted advertising.

The parties are much closer to an agreement than they used to be, said FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director David Vladeck. And the agency would like to see those talks progress before backing a legislative solution — although the clock is ticking, to some extent.

“If by the end of the year or early next year, we haven’t seen a real Do Not Track option for consumers, I suspect the commission will go back and think about whether we want to endorse legislation,” Leibowitz said.